Control for auto direction-indicators.



I. I. 81 V. l. CILLEY.

CONTROL FOR AUTO DIRECTION INDICATORS.

APPLICATION nu-:0 OCT. 13. 1911.

Patented Dec. 3, R918.

IZ/n e) J. Gilley,

VT? I. Czlley MM L' tr rrnn swa FATFT UFFTFF.

I'I'HIEL J'. CILLEY AND VRL I." CILLEY, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOBS 'Jl'O AUTO INDICATOR COMPANY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

CONTROL FOR AUTO DIRECTION-INDICATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 13, 1917. Serial No. 196,523.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ITHIEL J. CILLEY and VRLI. CILLEY, citizens of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Controls for Auto Direction-Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in appliances for controlling and actuating direction signals for automobiles, and for other kindred purposes, and more especially for actuating the signal covered in application No. 123,984 now controlled by our- 'selves and associates, and its objects are:

first, to provide a means whereby the important movements of said signals will be controlled, automatically, from the brake lever of the automobile; second, to provide a means whereby the important movements of the signals, as Go and Stop may be controlled independent of the less important movements as the indications for turning to the right, or to the left, and the latter may be controlled independent of the control that overns the'movements of the signal for 0 and Stop; third, to rovide a means whereby the signals for o and Stop will be continuous and steady while in use; fourth, to provide a means whereby the signal for G0 and Stop may be actuated independent of the brake lever, if desired, and, fifth, to provide a means whereby the connecting elements between the controls and the signal case or indicator may be readily attached, and as readily adjusted to exact desired, or required lengths and movements.

We attain these objects by the mechanism and arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of an automobile floor and seat with our invention 1n normal position. Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the control levers show ng them arranged for being actuated from the brake rod. Fig. 3 is an elevation of a short piece in Figs. 1 and 2, with the control from the brake lever connected with the brake rod arm. Fig. 6 is a plan of the case that covers the hand control and Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10 are used to show the several relative positions of the indicator with the correspondlng positions of the. controllever.

Similar reference characters indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

' We will now proceed to describe our control as connected with, and actuated by the brake lever and its connecting elements. This consists of a lever 15, pivotally mounted upon the bearin 17 and 17', the

latter being firmly secure to the lower surface of the automobile bottom or floor 1. The hub 9, which is made integral with the lever 15, has a short ofiset 10' at one side, in position to be engaged by the upper edge of the cam 8, which cam is pivotally mounted on the bearing 17, as at y, with its upper surface or peripheral bearing part upon a planeslightly above the normal plane of the point of the offset 10, so that if the cam is drawn, relatively, to the left, as in Figs. 1 and 2, (indicated by dotted lines) the hub 9 will be made to revolve upon its bearings sufliciently to move the signal one fourth of a revolution, thus, normally, the signal stands constant at Go, with the lever 15 in the position indicated by the solid lines in Figs. 1 and 2. When the hub 9 has been actuated by the cam 8, it is made to revolve sulliciently to carry the lever 15 to the position indicated by the dotted lines in these figures, and the signal is carried to the position indicated in Fig. 8, with the word Stop made conspicuous and the word Go carried out of view. The cam 8 may be connected directly with the brake lever 4, as with the connecting rod 14, as in Fig. 1, (always necessary when a clutch is used), or it may be connected with the brake rod 7, as indicated in Fig. 2, by means of any available form of clutch, as, for instance, that shown at 18, or it may be connected with thebrake rod arm 6, as the slide 24: is connected in Fig. 5. With this form of connection alone it would be impractical to indicate more than the words Go and Stop with this indicator. Furthermore, the instant the foot of the operator is removed from the pedal 1' of the Patented Dec. 3, 1818.

brake lever 4 the signal will return into its normal position, shown in Fig. 7, and the Stop signal could not be made continuous if desired. To overcome these difficulties we have provided an auxiliary hand control to govern the movements of the lever 15, asfollows: An arm 11 is made integral with the hub 9, and is positioned, practically, at a right angle with the lever 15. The arm 11 is arranged to receive, and to be temporarily secured toa cable or chain 12, practically as indicated in Fig. 1, which latter extends upward to, and is connected with the hand control drum or cylinder 20, located inside of the case 13, as indicated in Fig. 3. The drum or cylinder has an arm or lever 19 firmly connected therewith, with which the cylinder 20 may be made to revolve in thecase 13. The case 13 has a slot 21 formed in one segment of its periphery, the edge of the case at one side of said slot having serrations formed thereon,

as indicated at a, b, 0, d. These serrations are designed to form stops or resting places for the lever 19 for the purpose of governing the positions of the lever 15, and with it the positions of the signal, as follows: With the lever 19 positioned at a the signal stands constantly with the word Go exposed. If the lever is moved to b, the word Stop will be exposed. This, as hereinbeforeexplained, may be governed entirely by the movement of the brake lever 4, but as occasions often occur when it is desirable to hold this signal constant even after the brake lever has been released, we have provided for such contingencies by placing the stop I) in the slot to hold the lever 19 in this position as long as desired after releasing the brake pedal or lever. It is to be understood that the action of the brake lever, and of the hand control upon the signals, are absolutely independent of each other, but that each has exactly the same effect upon the signals Go and Stop when operated independently of the other. As hereinbefore stated, the action of the brake lever does not extend beyond the action of the lever represented at b, and the signals for right and left must be controlled by the hand control, or, rather, it is desirable that they should be so controlled. The reason for this distinction in the control of the sig nals is that the first and second signals, and especially the signal Stop are often required in emergencies where quick and positive action must be made to avoid serious results, and the actuating of the signals Go and Stop without the necessity. of thought before action, the impulse being to place the foot instantly upon the brake lever when a sudden signal to, or emergency demanding Stop is unexpectedly revealed to a driver, which might prove very serious, or even fatal if the driver was required to operate a separate lever to bring about the necessary result. On the other hand, a driver has a half a block, or a whole block if desired, in which to indicate to a driver following that he intends to turn to the right or to the left, hence no cause for mistakes, or even confusion, and we find it more convenient and satisfactory to operate these signals by hand, and for this purpose the lever 19 may be made to move over to the position indicated at 0, when the arrow pointing to the right, as in Fig. 9 will be exhibited, and with the lever carried to d the arrow in Fig. 10 will be exhibited, so no mistake need be made, even in the most trying emergencies. When .the control is normal the connecting cable 16 is secured to the indicator cylinder as at 0. Operating the lever 15 with the foot pedal, or carrying the lever 19 to b will'revolve the indicator signal to f; with the lever carried to c the cylinder connection will be carried to g, and with the lever carried to d the cylinder connection will be at h, and the several signals exposed accordingly.

The arm or lever 19 should stand, normally, in engagement with the stops (1, b, c

and 03, so that contact will be assured when the lever is moved from a to any of the other stops, but should be sufiiciently movable sidewise so that when sprung out of contact with either of the said stops it will drop back to a without exertion by the operator, it being understood that the signal cylinder is held in, and carried back to normal position by spring action of suflicient strength to act through the lever 11l5 to positively insure the proper return of the lever 19 when released from any of the stops 6, c or d.

The cables 12 and 16 may be secured to the arms 11 and 15 by passing the ends through holes in these arms and securing them with set screws, or they may be connected with cotter pins 1, passed through the holes in the arm 11 or the hub m and secured by'the set screws is, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 4, or in any other convenient and available manner.-

Fig. 5 is shown simply to establish the fact that other forms than those shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may be successfully applied, though we prefer the latter as it. is much less expensive than the means necessary for securing the support 23 to the automobile floor or frame, and the operation and application of the cam 8 is much less difficult. than the slide 24, though the ultimate results are the same; and while there are other means whereby the results may be attained we do not deem it necessary to go further into the matter of modifications.

It will be readily understood that great advantages must result from the use of the brake lever for actuating the first two signals,'as, for instance, should fifty automo- T5 I biles be in close line and a signal to stop suddenly given the first automobile the flashing of the Word Stop at the rear of his car will cause the driver next behind him to place his till) foot, impulsively, upon his brake lever and before the first has fairly stopped the last automobilein the line will have received the signal, and practically without thought upon the part of any of the drivers between the first and'the last, no matter how long the line, or the number of automobiles in the line.

When the cam or trip 8 is used the periphery should be equidistant, at all points, from the center of the pivotal bearing j so that assoon as the offset 10 has passed upon this periphery the signal 22 will be held absolutely steady with Stop exposed, no matter how far the brake lever may travel after the signal has been operated.

It will be noted that the shoulder 2', on the slide 24-, see Fig. 5, has exactly the same effect upon the hub 9 that the like shoulder or incline has upon this hub when the cam 17 is properly actuated, as hereinbefore described.

' What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In a cOntrol for actuating a revoluble direction indicator on an automobile, a standard secured to, and extending downwardly from the automobile floor, a lever pivotally mounted upon the standard near its upper end, and extendin downwardly therefrom, an offset on the hu of this lever, a cam having its periphery formed from a given center to produce a lower plane and a higher plane, said cam pivotally mounted upon the standard near its lower end in po: sition to be made to act upon the offset on the lever hub to swing the lever slightly with the forward or backward movements of the cam, a connecting element between the lever mechanism of an automobile to actuate the indicator by the action of the brake lever upon the cam.

2. In a control for actuating a direction indicator on an automobile, a standard secured to the lower side of the automobile floor and extending downwardly therefrom, a lever pivotally mounted near the upper end of the standard and extending downwardly, an offset on the hub of this lever, an a tuatingdevice pivoted to the lower end of the standard, and having a lower plane, and a higher plane to act upon the offset to actuate the lever, a connecting element between the free end of the lever and the indicator, and a connecting element between the actuating device and the brake mechanism of an automobile whereby the indicator may be actuated from the brake mechanism.

3. In a control for a direction indicator ranged to act upon the lug on the lever to draw its lower end forward, a connecting element between the upper end of the cam and the brake mechanism whereby the cam and lever will be actuated by the movement of the brake mechanism, a connecting element between the end of the lever and the indicator whereby the indicator is actuated by the movements of the lever, an arm extending from the upper end of the lever, a hand control consisting of a hand operated lever and an auxiliary lever operated by the hand lever, a connectin element connecting the auxiliary lever with the arm at the upper end of the lever below the automobile floor so ar-- ranged that the indicator may be actuated by hand independently of the cam action upon the lever that is mounted upon the standard below the floor.

4. In a control for a direction indicator for an automobile, a standard secured to the floor of the automobile and extending downwardly therefrom, a lever pivotally mounted upon the standard near its upper end, an off set on the hub of the lever, an arm formed upon one side of the upper end of the lever, a cam pivotally mounted at the lower end of the standard and having its periphery formed upon a lower plane and a higher plane radiating from the same center, and arranged to act upon the offset on the lever 1 to swing the lever and hold it in desired positions, a connecting element between the lower end of the lever and the indicator, a connecting element between the upper end of the cam and the brake mechanism of an automobile whereby the movement of the brake lever will actuate the indicator to display the two signals indicating safety and danger, alternately, a hand lever mounted in the automobile means whereby the movements of the hand lever will swing the lever below the floor and actuate the indicator to display, alternately, the direction signals independently of the brake mechanism and cam, and means whereby the several conne(1:lting elements may be adjusted longitudina y.

5. In acontrol for a revoluble direction indicator on an automobile, intermediate actuating elements between the indicator and the brake mechanism of an automobile,

means connectingthe intermediate actuating element with the brake mechanism for moving the indicator cylinder from first signal position to second signal position, means independent of the brake mechanism for moving the indicator cylinder from first signal position to third or fourth signal positions,

as desired, and means for holding the desired signals exposed, through the medium of the intermediate actuating elements. 10

' Signed at Grand Rapids, Michigan, October 11, 1917.

ITHIEL J. cILLEY. VRL I. ciLLEY. 

